Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Janus Womack)

[Perdita]

She is not going about as if nothing has happened !!

[Perdita]

EastEnders star Samantha Womack has admitted that she doesn't want a big fuss when she leaves the show.

The actress, who announced that she was leaving her role as Ronnie Branning earlier this year, confessed that she would rather say goodbye to her closest friends and slip away quietly.

Womack has already secured her next role, starring as Nellie Forbush in a touring production of South Pacific.

"I think I just want to creep out at the EastEnders leaving party, I don't want a big deal," she told the Sunday Mirror. "I will be saying goodbye to a lot of very close friends.

"I'll be telling them that I love them all dearly. I'll definitely miss Rita Simons (Roxy Mitchell) the most.Then I'll be going into South Pacific playing Nellie Forbush and rehearsals start soon. I need to stop eating and get my a**e into shape.

"My trick at the minute is to wear padded pointy shoulders as it cancels the rest of your body out. I can't wait to get my dancing shoes on as it's five years since I was last on stage, in Guys and Dolls."

DS

[Perdita]

Scott Maslen has insisted that Samantha Womack has "not shut the door" on making a return to EastEnders in the future.

The actor - Jack Branning in the BBC soap - told ITV's This Morning that Womack, who plays his on-screen wife Ronnie, is taking a break because she is "knackered".

It was confirmed in January that the actress was to leave the programme, after a record number of complaints were received by the corporation over the controversial baby-swap plot.

"Sam's having a break," Maslen told presenters Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford. "She's leaving the show for a period of time. She's not shut the door on EastEnders by any stretch because she loves it there. We all love it there."

He continued: "She's had a very intense few years. She's got kids - she just wants to have a bit of a break and go about life. It's not story-related - I know there was a lot of stuff that came out at the time that she didn't like the storyline and that was blown out of all proportion. She's knackered. She's had a lot of stuff going on over the last couple of years."

Speaking about the storyline, which was brought to an early conclusion last week as Ronnie returned baby Tommy to Kat Moon, Maslen insisted that he trusts the soap's storyliners.

"I trust the BBC and the people that come up with stories. EastEnders is always dealing with issues and stories and this is soap, so you're always on a very fine line," he said. "As actors we don't crave stuff like this but you enjoy getting into your work so this was a challenge, and a challenge that me and Sam enjoyed.

"It's not a story that I enjoyed because we've all got kids and we all know what the implications of these sort of things are. It's a tragic story but I felt that in the circumstances we played it really well and that was the very positive thing to come out of it."

He added: "You have to keep yourself very focused on what you're doing and not listen to what other people are saying about things, otherwise it influences it."


DS

[Dazzle]

I'm not surprised Samantha Womack wants a break from EE - playing unhappy Ronnie these last few years must have been stressful. I'd like to see her back in EE in the future, hopefully playing a happier Ronnie.

[Dutchgirl]

She did a fine job. She was again brill today. She played it with so much persuasion.

[Perdita]

Rita Simons has confessed that she is heartbroken over EastEnders co-star Samantha Womack's departure from the soap.

Womack announced in January that she would exit the soap later this year to pursue other projects.

Simons, who previously said that she was "dreading" the loss of her on-screen sister, told The Sun's Buzz that she has struggled to come to terms with Womack's final days on set.

"Sam's gone and it has ripped my heart out. It may sound strange, but it really does feel like a family member has died," Simons revealed.

However, Simons went on to reveal her hopes for Roxy's future character development, explaining that the rivalry caused by EastEnders' controversial baby swap plotline could propel her storyline forward.

"I want problems and proper fighting... I'd like her to have a long relationship," Simons explained. "There is great potential with her and Michael [Moon]. You can see it now - the Mitchells versus the Moons."

[tammyy2j]

Ronnie is suppose to leave pregnant by Michael

[Perdita]

EastEnders' executive producer Bryan Kirkwood has reiterated that the soap's team are eager to see Samantha Womack return to Walford at some point in the future.

Womack recently filmed her final scenes as Ronnie Branning after four years playing the troubled character. Her decision to take a break from the show emerged in January amid the controversy which surrounded Ronnie's baby swap storyline.

Answering viewer questions on This Morning today, Kirkwood was asked whether the door is still being left open for Ronnie to make a return.

He replied: "Absolutely, yeah. Sam filmed her final scenes with us a few weeks ago and we'll see her exit storyline unfold over the coming weeks. She's much-loved and much-missed, so we'd love to have Sam back at any time in the future."

Reflecting on the baby swap row, he said: "I think hindsight's a brilliant thing and perhaps we misjudged the audience's appetite to see Ronnie cry yet again. She'd been crying for three years up until that point, and here was another storyline that had her on her knees.

"But at the same time, I'm really proud of the storyline. I think the episodes in April where Kat got her baby back were EastEnders at its best. I think they were brilliant episodes."

Kirkwood also insisted that Womack's decision to bow out from EastEnders was not influenced by the tragic storyline.

"I took over in March of last year and I knew that it was going to be Sam's last year on the show at that point," he said. "So we embarked on the storyline knowing that it would lead to Ronnie and Sam's exit."

Womack's latest project sees her take on the role of Nellie Forbrush in a touring production of South Pacific.

[Perdita]

SAMANTHA Womack has spoken for the first time about quitting EastEnders, saying the baby-swap plot left her "physically and emotionally shattered".
The story made her realise she could no longer cope with her character's harrowing life.

The actress, 38, said: "I worked out I'd been crying or screaming at work every day for six days a week for over two years. Can you imagine how exhausting and tiring that is?"

Samantha, who played troubled Ronnie Mitchell for four years, added: "You're crying, weeping and telling your brain something awful has happened, so of course that is going to affect you and your body. My brain may know I am acting, but my body was doing a different thing.

"I needed to stop and find some peace, a bit like Ronnie."

Samantha's final scenes on the BBC1 soap air next week. She quit over the plot which saw Ronnie snatch Kat Moon's baby after her own baby's death. Her last moments on the soap will show Ronnie facing trial for the kidnap.

The baby-snatching storyline caused a furore last Christmas - but Samantha, shown below with screen husband Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) has remained silent until now.

She explained: "I didn't speak out because I didn't want to say the wrong thing at the wrong time and reignite the situation.

"But now I think it's important to set the record straight and tell my side. I did find the storyline very difficult to play. It was draining emotionally and physically and by the end I was shattered."

She realised what a toll the soap was taking on her after totting up all the horrors her character had faced since she first appeared in 2007.

The misery included incest, rape, miscarriage, a cheating husband and seeing long-lost daughter Danielle die in front of her.

But Samantha tells the new issue of Hello! magazine - out today - that soap bosses are under huge pressure to come up with attention-grabbing plots.

She said: "Unfortunately, because of the way television is going - and by that I don't just mean just soap, but reality and also drama - there is a massive consumer need for controversy and high-risk storylines. We may not like it, but the viewing figures go through the roof."

Samantha, mum to Benjamin, ten and Lili-Rose, six, wasted no time in showing her relief after her final scenes.

As soon as she finished filming, she rushed to change her hairstyle so she no longer looked like the character.
She said: "Ronnie's blonde locks were the first to go.

"I wanted to look different, I had my hair cut shorter and went red. It felt liberating, especially walking down the street afterwards as nobody recognised me."

But Samantha - who changed her name from Janus when she wed actor Mark Womack - said she still fels passionate for the former Queen Vic barmaid.

She said Ronnie was "the most damaged character I've ever played but I loved her and she's under my skin".



Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...#ixzz1QXmhLsze


Why always these contradicting stories .. one minute she left because of the storyline, the next she did not

[Dutchgirl]

Good on her for speaking about what it does to an actress. The emotions have to come from somewhere!. I thought she did a good job. Playing an undercooled character whith all those emotions.